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unplayable

unplayable

3 6.1
Not able to be used properly, including for games, sports and music, because it is too hard or damaged
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈpleɪəbl/
translation icon : injugable
  • The golf tournament had to be canceled because the rain made the course unplayable.
  • an unplayable lie
  • unplayable holes
  • rendered unplayable

I like to call this the greatest melodic solo that's unplayable.

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Examples

  • It's almost completely unplayable unless you've got the most powerful accelerated Amiga in the world.

  • The release of the game was the worst I've ever seen, unplayable to hundreds of people.

    Blog text (11)
  • Server downtimes happened after that, and many games became unplayable because of it.

    Blog text (18)
  • That's not just bad, that is outright unplayable in games that require precise inputs like Super Meat Boy.

  • After that point, the game became a seemingly never-ending cycle of goal releases, unfixed bugs, and loading issues that made the game unplayable for a large chunk of users and simply not worth the time for so many others.

    Blog text (16)
  • After a heavy snowfall, the soccer field became unplayable due to the slippery conditions.

  • The video game had so many bugs that users reported it was practically unplayable.

Synonyms

unusable
vsunplayable
16 2.3

Damaged or broken so it does not work

is limited to being unsuitable for an activity because of difficulty or poor conditions

Antonyms

11 3.2

Suitable for playing a game, sport, or musical instrument

How Playable

playable
11 3.2
tricky
214 3.9
unplayable
3 6.1

Surface Forms

unplayable positive

Morphology

unplayable = playable (transparent) = un + play + able

The immediate base 'playable' is clearly 'play' + '-able' meaning 'able to be played', and 'un-' straightforwardly negates that meaning.

Etymology

Unplayable is made of three parts: un- meaning 'not', the simple word play, and -able meaning 'able to be'. So unplayable means 'not able to be played' and is used when a game, a piece of music, or a field cannot be played because it is too hard or in bad condition.